garage sale, thrift sale, rummage sale, or tag sale… no matter what you call it, the process always looks the same…

1. spend monday-friday hauling boxes of old clothing, decorations, and toys out of the basement.
2. price each item. debate between putting a $1 sticker or a $2 sticker on the old picture frame.
3. spend friday evening arranging the garage, setting up tables, putting garage sale signs at strategic intersections in your neighborhood. get to bed around 1:00 or 1:30am.
4. wake up at 7am on saturday for your 9am garage sale. look out your window to find scavengers already peering into your garage.
5. spend all day saturday sitting on lawnchairs allowing strangers to haggle you down 50 cents on a 1 dollar item.
6. wonder about your taste in home furnishings when some of your items don’t sell despite being marked down to 25 cents.
7. box up all your remaining items and drive to goodwill.
8. count up your earnings… $135.
9. go out for dinner… spend $65.
10. ask yourself, “why did we ever think this was a good idea?”

this past weekend, we held our second annual garage sale. we love getting rid of old items and creating new space in our home. and we especially love trading clutter for money. but the energy that it takes to pull off a well-organized garage sale is rarely worth the financial return. after this year’s garage sale, we packed up everything that was left and took it to the goodwill (5 large boxes full of old clothes and home decorations)… if i couldn’t sell it for 25 cents, why would i keep it in my house?

may the day come soon when i have no need to organize another garage sale…

related posts:

• benefits of minimalism (full list)
• benefit #17 – more time on your hands
• garage sale #1

there are few things better in life than finding money. 

we were pleasantly surprised this afternoon to open the mailbox and find money in it.  specifically, there was a check from a local children’s clothing consigment shop.  over 6 weeks ago, we dropped off a box of outgrown children’s clothes.  we had both forgotten about it until we opened the mail today to find the check.  it had been mailed at the month’s end.

 we’re not going to retire on the earnings, but it was still a pleasurable surprise.  turning clutter into money is one of my favorite things about becoming minimalist.  i highly recommend it!

you can read more about selling your own clothes at a consignment shop here.

related posts:

• quickest sale on ebay: books.
• one month

i love selling books on ebay.  first, it gets them out of my house.  second, i like turning my old stuff into money.  and third, it’s so easy!

if you have never sold a book on ebay, i highly recommend it.  ebay (as a minimalizing technique) can be very time-consuming.  taking pictures, writing descriptions, and shipping packages tend to be a hassle for only a $4 profit.  but ebay eliminates nearly all the time-consuming hassle when it comes to books.

when selling books, all you need to enter is the isbn number located on the back of most books.  ebay automatically registers all the information about the book (title, author, description, etc.) leaving you to enter just a one sentence description and your shipping cost.  not to mention, shipping books is easy (one manila envelope, please) and cheap (usps parcel post).

i hopped on ebay today to list some books that i found in my basement. i was surprised to see that ebay is offering a special 5cent listing fee on books until the end of the year.  got a shelf full of books (or a box in the basement)?  go grab a few popular titles and turn them into cash today (or at least in 5 days…)

related posts:

• what to do with books
• my junk drawer on ebay

if i could start all over and money wasn’t an issue, i’d buy my furniture from minimalista.

but because money is an issue, i put my junk drawer up for sale on ebay.

this evening, i stepped up to cross another cluttered area of my home off the list – the dreaded junk drawer.  i began the process using the steps that i have learned from the experts:

1. identify your clutter area
2. take everything out
3. return only things that need to stay
4. sort the rest into three piles: relocate, sell/donate, discard

as i pulled the drawer out of its slot, i had a change of heart.  instead of following the 4 step process, i reduced it to one step: 1. sell everything on ebay.  i kept everything - and put the drawer up for auction.

you can find the listing here: my junk drawer (untouched).  it’s your chance to own a little piece of my family.

we’re 7 out of 9 on ebay sales totaling $38.23.  not exactly funding our next vacation, but it beats throwing things in the garbage.  round 3 is currently underway.

we finally got around to donating our unsold items from our garage sale last weekend.  8 boxes in all – mostly clothes filled up the whole minivan.  we took the maternity and baby clothes to carenet pregnancy center.  and all the rest went to the new goodwill store that just opened last month.  as always, felt good.

yesterday was our garage sale.  to increase traffic, our entire neighborhood chooses a saturday in june for the “pinewood manor garage sales.”  this was the first year that we participated.  and our first since determining to become minimalist.  garage sales can be a lot of work.  it’s not so much the putting things on tables or marking with prices, it’s going through every room in your house and collecting things that you no longer use.  but the good thing is regardless of how the garage sale goes, you have gone through every room in your house removing things that you no longer use.

we sold nearly 100 items and made $100+.  we would have been disappointed about the income if we weren’t so excited to just get rid of some of the stuff in our home.  we were able to sell several pieces of furniture, numerous decorative odds and ends, and countless toys and baby items.  the biggest non-seller was clothes – not sure what that says about our style.  everything else we are dontaing to charity, including:

• 22 sweaters/sweatshirts
• 55 shirts
• 18 pairs of pants
• 7 ties
• 6 coats
• 21 pieces of maternity clothing
• 12 hats
• 17 pairs of shoes
• 20 stuffed animals
• 8 blankets
• 3 decorative pillows
• 33 household items

it looks like we’ll need to make the mini-van to the local goodwill to donate this many boxes…

last week, we entered the newest century and sold 2 of our first 3 items posted on ebay.  today, we listed our next 5 auctions.  you can check them out here (you may find something you need – especially if you are expecting)…

we finally started getting ready for our garage sale this weekend by going through one of our closets.  i pulled out 39 shirts, 9 ties, and numerous pairs of pants.  my wife threw up some similar numbers (although not quite as big).  we have purged our closets before (2 boxes of donations are still sitting in my basement), but this time it was much easier to decide to get rid of clothing.  instead of my typical “well…i might wear that again” response, i opted for a more minimalist “i don’t need a shirt that i never wear around my house” approach.  nothing to it.  they’re just waiting for sticker tags now.